Dutchwoman Lorena Webbs, champion of the Al Masaood stage, leads the UAE Women’s Tour

Dutchwoman Lorena Wiebes won the first stage of the UAE Women’s Tour 2026 in its fourth edition, sponsored by Abu Dhabi Ports Group, after a strong performance in the Al Masaood Equipment Rental stage, which extended from the Al Mughira coast in the port city to the finish line in Madinat Zayed in the Al Dhafra region.
Whipps topped the first stage after covering the race distance of 111 kilometers in a time of two hours, 26 minutes and 17 seconds, ahead of Irish Lara Gillespie, star of the Emirates ADQ team, who came in second place, while British Zoe Baxted, star of the German Canyon SRAM team, came in third place.
After the end of the stage, Whipps won the red jersey for the leader in the overall standings, sponsored by Abu Dhabi Ports Group, and she also received the green jersey designated for the leader in the points standings, sponsored by Mubadala.
British Zoe Baxted won the white jersey for the best young female racer, sponsored by Burjeel Holding, while Dutch Femke de Vries, star of the Dutch Visma Les Abike team, won the black jersey for the leader of the medium speed stage, sponsored by the house.
The launch of the first phase was witnessed by the Secretary-General of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Arif Hamad Al-Awani, the Executive Director of the Council’s Events Sector, Talal Al-Hashemi, and the Director of the Council’s Corporate Communications Office, Abdul Rahim Al-Zarouni, along with representatives of Al-Masoud Equipment, Norma Shaheen and Khaled Al-Masoud, and Sahid Abu Hamid, representative of Mudon.
Lorena Whipps, the winner of the stage, confirmed that the victory represents a great start to the season, noting that her team did a good job in the last ten kilometers, and she added: “We knew from our experience two years ago that this was a difficult finish, as the straight track is very long, and we benefited from other teams in the last part of the race, and fortunately I got a suitable gap to start in the final sprint.. I said this morning that winning one stage is my goal, but we will try to win the next two stages as well.”
The T-shirt winners were crowned by Arif Hamad Al-Awani, Director of the Traffic and Patrols Department (Al-Dhafra Region), Colonel Saif Mohammed Al-Amri, Qariba Barak Al-Mazrouei, Director of the Office of the Undersecretary of the Court of the Ruler’s Representative in the Al-Dhafra Region, Talal Al-Hashemi, and the representative of the Ministry of Education, Moza Saif Al-Mansouri.